Jennette McCurdy / A Rant On Music Today

Anybody who watches Nickelodeon knows Jennette McCurdy as Sam from "iCarly." Well, soon her acting may not be the only thing she is known for.

McCurdy is on her way to releasing an album. She had been "laying down some tracks" since last July. McCurdy's album is due this summer, and will be released independently of Nickelodeon on Your Tyme Records.

I first found (or rather rediscovered) McCurdy's blog in October or November (when I first came across it many months before, it was not nearly as cool looking, nor did it have as many blog posts). I was very curious to hear Jennette's singing voice. I checked her youtube page every so often for some hint of it, but although she did show off her skillful ice skating, she had nothing of her singing. One video even had her and co-star Nathan Kress playfully arguing about the game Rock Band. Kress kept saying that Jennette's voice is good and that she should sing, but she said she wouldn't.

However, the wait is over to hear Jennette's voice. Her first single, "So Close," was released ahead of her album, on March 10th. The song is a country/pop tune with a fiddle, but otherwise a more traditional pop - rock arrangement. It is pretty catchy, and McCurdy's singing is quite good. I look forward to hearing more.

In one of her blog posts, McCurdy mentioned she will most likely be following the, as I call it "Taylor Swift Model." That is, she will have three or four singles out prior to the albums release.
On one hand, I could care less on any deep level, and be happy just to hear the songs before buying the album (which I will buy on CD, mind you.)

On the other hand, I feel it promotes an anti-album culture. Still, before I go off on that, I will say that many artists have their work leaked months in advance, and putting out pre-album singles probably helps combat that a bit.

Still, back in the sixties, singles were an art form, like albums. Bands were craft songs specifically for the single. They would channel their most commercial music for this medium. Longer songs, songs more geared towards fans and selective listeners would be on the album. With this model, I feel like "the album" is simply a collection of tracks. A mere playlist. Maybe sequenced cleverly, but not a piece of art. If someone truly only wants to make songs, and has no bigger theme or layout for an album, than fine, roll with it. But I just fear we may find the death of the album. How wierd would it be if in the future, an artist just put out 12 singles every once in a while. CD's for sure would be obsolete. Sitting down and experiencing an album would be gone. It would be a big smorgasboard. I'm all for choosing, and don't mind that you can go onto iTunes and buy any one song without getting the album. But I just prefer if the choice remained in choosing what album you want, not what song you want.

And I named this the "Taylor Swift Model" because Taylor Swift had 4 singles out prior to her "Fearless" album.

And another thing that has irked me since Green Day and "American Idiot." After a single or two, stop promoting an album! Green Day had singles off the album well over a year after it came out. Instead of worrying about sales, try putting some new songs on the radio. The commercialism is too much.

And one last thing. When I say single, I mean a single you buy. I don't mind if artists try to push a song on DJ's to play, but that doesn't mean you need to give it a seperate download, or a CD Single. Just tell the fans to buy the album.

And buy Jennette's album, too ;)